


The Sound of Thunder

by DeadStar



Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-08
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-12-14 08:18:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/834703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadStar/pseuds/DeadStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan Hunt leads his team on another impossible mission to recover a strategic piece of military intelligence that threatens the security of strategic western military outposts and its personnel on a global scale should the secrets be sold out on the open market.</p>
<p>In a race against time, Ethan employs Samantha Riley to join his team of Benji Dunn and William Brandt as a replacement to Jane Carter who has transferred off the team whilst grieving for her lost love. Riley's experience as British Military Intelligence aides Ethan in his hunt to track down and locate all the players involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. LONDON

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Paramount Pictures save for my own creations. A non for profit story and this work has not seen a Beta so all mistakes are my own. Please feel free to leave comments!

Flight BA193

Thailand had been hot, sticky and almost too much to bear for a spy, all that running in a humidity that would knock anyone fit, sideways so when she looked out of the small window and out onto the sunny but cool London skyline, she smiled, she was back in her birthplace, the land of green rolling hills and last years summer Olympics. The weather was practically Arctic compared to Bangkok, there was a light smattering of snow on the ground, she had caught the tail end of what had been one of Britain’s harshest weather fronts in decades but even so, she was glad to be home.

As the plane began its descent, passengers started to pull together their belongings stuffing them into bags and purses or desperately trying to remember where they had placed their passports and visas whilst all the time mostly either ignoring the Fasten Seat belt sign that flashed up or desperately making sure that the seat belt was locked firmly into place. She watched the as the tarmac of the taxi way encouraged the plane in, she could almost smell the preamble of fear from those who still considered air flight a form of extreme danger due to their fear of flying.

Samantha Riley had no such fear, flying never bothered her in the slightest, jumping out of perfectly good places on the other hand was a small issue, why would anyone conceive of jumping out of a perfectly working piece of mechanical engineering? Still, if IMF said jump then you jumped no matter how high you were off of the ground whether you be in a moving plane or simply at the top of a very, very tall building.

Twenty minutes later with feet firmly on the ground and passing through Passport Control with no such hindrance, she grabbed the single piece of luggage that she carried on her back, a small semi-hard cased backpack with all the tools of the trade. You only took what you could carry and in this instance, that wasn’t really very much. Moving through the throng of passengers quickly and softly as she dodged incoming relatives waiting for those who had been on the flight with her, she firmly noted the outside doors and made a beeline for them.

The taxi rank was busy loading and unloading luggage and passengers, scanning a cab that was near the front of the rank she went to move to it but saw a familiar figure stood across the road, arms folded and smiling. Stopping, she turned her head slightly and watched as he tilted his head off to the side indicating her ride was already here and she needn’t bother with getting herself a taxi to wherever she needed to go.

“Enjoy your vacation?” the American accent unmistakeably recognizable as he unfolded his arms and fell into step beside her, leading the way to the multi-storey car park where the Range Rover was parked.

“Oh yeah, you know, warm beer and where the men look better than the women in a dress...yeah I had a ball” she replied, an ever knowing nod of understanding from the man.

“Hope you’re not too tired, I’ve got a mission, could use a hand” he took a left and moved towards a blacked out SUV.

“How am I supposed to say no to the great Ethan Hunt?” she replied as he clicked the alarm on the keyring opening the car up so they could get in.

“You’ve done it before Riley” he smiled and she nodded, she had, he never allowed her to forget.

“Can I at least get a change of clothes?” she looked over to him and smiled, that way that she so often did, a cock sure kind of grin.

“Yeah...then we’ll pick up the others” he replied as he slipped the vehicle into reverse before changing gear and hitting the accelerator steering it through the open archway of the car park and out onto the busy road leading away from Heathrow Airport.

“Others?....you have others? What the hell happened to Luther?” she asked.

“Vacation....Bora Bora I think” Ethan nodded.

“Luther’s in Bora Bora? He hates the heat!.....and sand” she laughed as Ethan chuckled, he missed that laugh.

“Yeah”


	2. INTRODUCTIONS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments are welcomed!

Benji Dunn looked out of the window of the 60th floor of the Shard, London’s premier place to be and smiled. London after all was his home and it was always nice to come home at the end of the day and just as he was about to call his brother to announce his return his cell beeped and his eyes rolled. IMF, his employers were on the other end and were calling him back to work, this was wholly unfair in his eyes as his brain had yet to get over the fact that the Kremlin had blown up and he had been at the heart of it all.

That had been 13 months ago and he still hadn’t forgotten it, how could he, not every day you were witness to the might of the Russian seat of power just blowing up like that in a great ball of flame, smoke and debris. He didn’t regret his actions to take the field test to become an operative with all the bells and whistles that came with being said field operative, just some days he felt as if his feet barely touched base and he was permanently on the go which of course, he was for the majority of the year.

He had to remind himself that even terrorists didn’t break for holidays and therefore neither do top IMF operatives whether they were in the field or not, so here he sat staring out of the window waiting for Ethan Hunt to arrive with a new team member. He remembered Sam Riley quite well when she was in HQ but not so much after she got postings to all the far flung places he at one time used to dream about and it didn’t hurt so much having a fellow Brit to talk to, at least one of them would understand his humour.

Across the quiet living accommodations sat William Brandt, his days of being a chief analyst were over after the Dubai mission and he had joined Hunt’s team on a more permanent basis, Benji had come to respect the man, he had depths and levels that the tech was only starting to realise, under the surface there were hundreds of layers to him, Benji related to him like an onion. A complex orb of multiple layers only Brandt had yet to make him cry, only onions had done that to Benji he thought as he watched the man flick a file folder close and dump it on the coffee table in front of him.

And then there was Jane, Ethan was used to many different operatives coming and going in his team, he worked with the men and women with a certain set of skills required for each mission and this time around Jane was not needed. Thats what Ethan had told him but Benji had already known that his friend had been in mourning ever since the Dubai mission and had volunteered to take herself off of the team, thanking Ethan for his understanding and support. 

Benji had overheard him telling Jane that the door was always open to her if she had ever wanted to come back but in the many months that had passed it seemed that Jane felt more comfortable sat behind a desk than in the field, he still missed her though.

“I don’t like the idea of someone new coming into the group” Brandt finally broke his silence as Benji looked over to his right tearing his concentration away from the hustle and bustle of the London streets below.

“Y’know, we felt the same way about you and look, here you are with your feet up on the table making yourself at home” Benji joked which drew a wry smile from Brandt.

“We don’t know her” Brandt continued, his eyes cast upward to look at the man before him.

“We didn’t know you either” Benji countered as he raised an eyebrow at him.

True, they hadn’t initially knew his secrets, who he really was and maybe he was being overly critical of the new operative, he didn’t know her but he had heard of her exploits from both Ethan and Benji but still, there was an awkwardness of the whole situation that he just couldn’t put his finger on. Jane had asked for reassignment, losing the man she loved had weighed an incredible toll on the woman and she really hadn’t gotten over losing him so had taken a position in Seattle in one of the IMF offices to be closer to family and friends for a while.

In the small time that Brandt had spent with Jane he had grown accustomed to her, the way she operated, her emotional mood swings and the fact that she could roundhouse a target out of an open window with killer accuracy much to everyone's chagrin. She was like a sister, a sister that didnt need his overly protective side but quite possibly someone who would use his shoulder to lean on given the opportunity but Jane had left and in her vacant spot was about to stride in a new face.

Moving up off the sofa he pushed his hands into the jeans pockets as he made his way across the polished marble tiles to the floor to ceiling windows and looked down at the traffic and people below, to him they looked like ants all rushing about. In the months he had been on Ethan’s team he had managed to seat the burning unresolved issue he had with the whole affair that was Ethan’s wife. He had felt somewhat betrayed at being used like that, making him feel like he had been responsible for the death of Julia Hunt, he took the tragedy quite badly until he was told that the whole thing was a huge cover up in order to secure her safety and anonymity.

Then he had felt anger, anger at being lied to, anger that had 1gotten himself reassigned to some desk jockey job because he felt he no longer could hold down a field role, that he could no longer lead a team of operatives into dangerous waters and for that he had taken out his anger on Ethan only weeks after the Dubai mission. Now, now they were solid though and the team had become inseparable, they knew what made each other happy, what made them sad, moody, anxious and downright violent, they could read each others body language down to a tee and this was now going to change again with Jane leaving and a new operative joining them.

He was about to turn and say something witty to Benji when the door to the apartment opened and Ethan walked in with a taller woman coming in behind him carrying a small black holdall. Benji cracked some joke about his team leader’s immaculate sense of timing and smiled when he saw Sam, she of course recognised him and took his hand firmly shaking it as she dropped the holdall down onto the floor beside the coffee table. 

"Sam!" Benji exclaimed as he then pulled her into a hug surprising the woman a little before he pushed himself away and grinned at her like a child on Christmas morning, Ethan shook his head a little before looking across to Brandt who had taken his hands out of his pockets and moved forwards anticipating the introduction.

"Benji, looking good" she poked him in the stomach with her index finger and grinned before turning to face the person in the room.

“Benji you already know, and this is William Brandt joined us in Dubai like I said, very adept at close quarters” Ethan said as Brandt crossed the room and held out his hand to her, she took it and felt the firm hand encompass her own before it was released as quickly.

“Welcome aboard” Brandt nodded in her direction, short and to the point.

“Thanks” she replied as she looked back at Ethan, a nervous few seconds of silence passed between them all before Ethan began to explain why they had all been pulled together, his insistence on having her join them.


	3. LUXURY

Brandt watched as she sank down into the sofa whilst he himself remained standing across from where Benji sat typing away at his laptop. Samantha Riley was nothing how he had imagined her to be, Benji had tried to give him some reference but all women in Benji’s eyes came across as either Catwoman or Xena Warrior Princess, the boy had a fixation on that kind of thing. 

Although he fared that the tech wasn't too far wrong in some aspects of his description of her, she was indeed tall and had shoulder length dark brown verging on black coloured hair with a shade of a deep purple berry that highlighted quite vividly when the sun or light hit it.

Her slate grey eyes were quite piercing, he had to keep checking himself that he wasn't staring too much when he looked at her, visually she fell into all the aspects physicality wise that the IMF demanded of their operatives. Athletic with the ability to hold their own in any given combat circumstance, the later of course he would have to see for himself when that would arise and only then could he really know for sure that she could indeed hold her own. 

He listened as Ethan outlined their first port of call would be in southern Italy and that they were taking the train, their target enjoyed train travel apparently and as such they had all been booked tickets first class on a train mostly frequented by the rich, the Orient Express. Brandt didnt care too much for trains not after the last time with all that running and dodging metal posts in order to get on the one IMF had as a safe house on rails, he shook the thought from his head.

“Can I dress in jeans on that thing or do I to dress like a penguin all the bloody time?” Benji looked up at Ethan expectedly as he closed his laptop and placed it into its protective bag before slinging it up onto his shoulder.

“You’re fine with jeans” Ethan nodded as he moved to an open doorway and bent down to pick up his own bag before returning to the main living area.

“Good cause you know I don’t do suits....or blazers....or loafers” Benji whittled on as they left the room, Brandt shaking his head and smiling.

It was some degree of awkwardness that Brandt found out that he would be sharing a cabin with the new member of the team, Ethan had felt that since he and Benji had previous encounters with Riley that maybe they should get to know one another better during the long assed train trip that they were all stuck on and what better way than to be a married couple, something Brandt wasn't so entirely happy with but had to give in to Ethan after all this was his call, his team.

“So, how long have you known Ethan for?” Brandt felt he had to break that awkward silence that had hung over the pair of them after splitting from the other two members and being shown to their first class cabin.

“About eight years, worked together off and on” she nodded as she pulled an ipad from her holdall and turned it on, Benji had kindly loaded it with all the information she would need to be brought up to date with regarding the mission profiles and the main players in the game including detailed biographies and photographs of each of the people involved.

“Eight years...so you know Julia” there, he had put it out there just to gauge her reaction but she never looked up and only acknowledged his sentence with a nod of her head and a mumble.

“Mmm” she replied.

“Thats nice” he muttered as he settled down on one of the fine armchairs that looked out of one of the ornate train windows.

Riley was tired if truth be told, she had endured a good twelve hour flight from Bangkok sat next to a man who just wouldn’t shut the fuck up about his crazy nights out in the city of angels, not to be confused with Los Angeles which also boasted the same iconic nickname. 

After six hours of boasting about his conquests in the lady boy clubs, she had taken the risk of actually putting a knock out drug in his glass of red wine when he had left for a bathroom break. He had fallen asleep pretty much quickly after that and she had spent the rest of the journey being bored to death by the movies on offer on a continuing loop.

She looked up over the top of the ipad and looked at the man across from her, he was staring out of the window to the platform beyond, they had yet to leave London but it wasn't long before she felt the pull of the train’s engines and they were beginning to move. 

Pulling a mobile phone from out of her jacket pocket, she dissembled it and pulled the original sim card out and replaced it with one that Ethan had given her before reaching the station. Sliding the back case back on she noted the three numbers that were located on it, Ethan’s, Benji’s and Brandt’s any other number would have to be manually dialed in.

Hitting Ethan’s number she raised the phone to her ear and placed the ipad back in her bag conscious of the fact that her every move was being registered by the man sitting opposite her. Ethan’s tone was business like as usual but there was a hint of a relaxed man as she heard him answer his phone with a quip about being nice to Brandt over the next five days travel to Italy and the famous Hotel Cipriani. 

“Five days huh? We may end up killing one another” she replied as she lay back in the chair and watched as the platform began to melt away, the train pulling free and clear of the station altogether.

“Play nice with the boy” Ethan said as she heard Benji in the background complain about lack of a decent Wi-fi signal.

“I always play nice Ethan” she smiled and took a good look around their double cabin and sighed, it may of been the Orient Express but it was just far too ‘oldie worlde’ for her own tastes.

“No...you really don’t” Ethan laughed as she snorted a derision back at him.

“If Im supposed to be married then where’s my wedding ring or am I having a torrid affair with with some dashing man...who possibly wears a uniform....or is it Daniel Craig?” she said as Brandt snorted his own derision as he kept his stare glued to the outside world that passed them by, towns slowly blurring into green countryside.


	4. THE GOOD WIFE

She narrowed her eyes at him then and smiled, she knew that she was going to have some fun on the journey even if it meant stirring the Brandt cooking pot, that cool and calm demeanor had not fooled her in the slightest no matter how icy he wanted to come across. No, she wasn't going to spend the next five days bored out of her tiny mind, Ethan reminded her that it wasn't all fun and games and that there really was work to do no matter how ass numbingly bored it may get.

“Benji put them in your holdall, check the side pocket” Ethan said as she bent down and unzipped the small side pocket and there inside was a clear plastic bag with two gold rings inside.

Leaning the phone against her shoulder, she slid the Ziploc open and reached inside for the smaller of the two rings before handing the bag over to Brandt who took it in silence and pulled his own wedding band from inside before staring at it intently. She wondered whether he was having second thoughts about his role in all of this as she placed her own band on her finger and looked down at it, it felt very unfamiliar looking back at her.

“Our target is already at the bar, apparently he only likes mixing with married women, if you want to go make his acquaintance, just don’t go in wearing your AC/DC tee” Ethan smiled as she imagined her looking down at herself.

“And whats wrong with my choice in tees? Do they think it will clash with their ostentatious wallpaper? Look, the Orient Express and me its like ordering foie gras when all you really want is a cheeseburger with pickles y’know” she muttered as she got up and grabbed her bag searching inside for something a little more formal.

Brandt listened to the conversation, he could imagine all the faces that Hunt was pulling as they spoke whilst all the while he had looked at the ring in the palm of his hands. He had caught himself smiling at her choice of words, maybe he should just give her the benefit of the doubt as he remembered what it was like to come aboard knowing the secrets he had, they didn’t have to like him or become his friend but they had even after everything, why should he be any different?

Placing the ring on his finger he looked over in time to see Riley discarding the t-shirt that she was wearing and instantly his eyes had to discourage themselves for staring at her back. The ring felt at odds with him, there on his finger like a golden weight of worry but still this was all for an act, it was just a circular piece of metal at the end of the day. Every once in a while though he caught himself sneaking a peak from the corner of his eyes or the fact that her reflection was in the window, probably a good job they had passed by any deeply populated areas by now otherwise people would have gotten a free display.

“Have you brought anything remotely non-insulting?” Ethan had asked as she poured through her choice of attire.

“Well, not as if I had much of a heads up beforehand, I mean its not like I have an Orient Express go bag on standby now is it?” she retorted as she found a slim fitting royal blue plain top with a slight deep v in the front which would show some of her assets off but it would have to do for now.

With her indigo coloured jeans that could double as form fitting trousers, she removed her boots and replaced them with a pair of black heels, nothing too high, she didn’t want to break her neck and given that she was almost six foot didn’t want to be banging her head from off the over pretentious chandeliers that hung from the trains ceiling but she didn’t want to come across as the librarian type either. 

Pulling the elastic tie from her hair she allowed it to fall down around her shoulders before pulling the blue top on, checking herself quickly in the mirror before turning her phone off and slipping it into a pocket of her jeans. Brandt during this time realised that she would be needing an ear bud so that they could hear what was going on not that close proximity on the train would impede communication, it was in case they missed any of the conversation or whether Ethan felt the need to prompt Riley. He appeared at her side then and watched as she ran her fingers through her hair to loosen it before handing her the small device which she placed in her ear without so much of a word.

“So, do I pass muster?” she turned to face him and he stood there in his dark suit trousers, steel grey shirt which was open at the neck and contrasting waistcoat, hands on hips as he looked her up and down, hell yes she did his brain had told him.

“Just remember you’re a married woman” he nodded as she smiled at him, god that smile could get a man into trouble he thought.

“Yes dear” she said as she moved towards the door, Brandt placed his own audio bud in his ear and acknowledged that Riley was on her way, he followed her out a good thirty seconds later.


	5. MEN TALK

The passengers of the train had not really made their way towards the end of the carriages where the bar was located, inside though she could see a smattering of heads mostly buried deep in whatever newspaper or magazine they were reading. Towards the far end she noted Ethan was pretending to read some broadsheet whilst Benji was nowhere to be seen, possibly keeping tabs from his berth via his laptop doing nerdy things she surmised. 

Ethan looked up from over the top of his newspaper and looked at the male sat propping up one end of the bar and chatting to some middle aged woman who by all accounts already looked four sheets to the wind. A single eyebrow raised as the inter connecting door to the carriage softly swooshed open, Ethan had to admit that whilst not the normal attire for such an occasion, Sam cut quite a swathe through the normal Orient patriots whose sidelong glances were gathering precedence as she moved down the aisle.

Their mark was in his early forties and wore a black suit with a crisp white shirt underneath but unbuttoned with no tie, he was clearly quite attractive and he knew it. His close cut dark brown verging on black hair made him look very masculine as he sat there with all the exuberance of a man on the prowl and as he chatted to the woman sat with him, she noted the accent, American, definitely west coast. 

The unidentified woman was wearing a daring red dress and was clearly a few shades older than him but still quite an attractive woman nonetheless, however you couldn't mistake a bottle blonde when you saw one. She was doing everything to keep his attention with her flirty banter and the way she sat uncrossing and then recrossing her legs slowly followed by the overly keen hand resting on his knee.

Sam took a seat at the other end of the bar and crossed her legs off to one side leaning into the bar and looking down to the waiter who had finished serving his only other two patrons. It was when the suited and booted waiter began to move her way that their target had noticed Sam sitting down and his eyes shifted then from the woman he had been talking to, to Sam and it was clear that any conversation with his current guest was all but finished in his eyes. 

Ethan had prompted her that she had her mark hook, line and sinker as the waiter placed the mineral water with a twist of lemon down in front of her, thanking him she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip, a small smile escaping the corners of her mouth. She could smell the almost overpowering cologne he wore which was right now doing battle with the heavy floral perfume the red dress female wore, it was quite an attack on the senses as Sam slowly turned away from the heady scents.

Their target was one Nathan Harris, a man born into money and power but more than made his own mark in the world with his weapons based company earning him contracts from the US military and those of their allies all around the world. IMF had been concerned of some nefarious activities of recent with his current and repetitive travelling to certain countries in which the US military would cast a downward eye should Harris Global Industries start making deals with despots willing to use weapons sold to them by Harris himself to use against their own people. 

Benji had laughed and made certain comments on the Iron Man films and wondered when Ethan was going to start building his own Iron Man suit and start flying around the planet saving lives. Ethan had not been amused initially but it was so hard not to laugh along with Benji and his comments, still, if Nathan Harris had decided to start selling to the enemy then nobody could afford to allow that premise to come to fruition.

“I would offer you a drink but it seems you have one” the voice appeared to whisper into her left ear.

“Well..this is a bar after all” Sam replied in her crisp English accent as she looked to see the bottle blonde not looking remotely happy to have been discarded in favour of herself.

“True....name’s Nathan, Nathan Harris and you are?” he asked extended his hand.

“Samantha Brandt...Mrs” she replied and held out her hand, the wedding band prominently on display.

“Charmed” Harris replied as he gingerly took her hand as if it were the most fragile thing he had ever held, and in one swift movement had placed his lips softly down upon her fingers before letting them go. He was clean shaven and she felt the skin of his lips against her fingers and found them to be overly soft, the man obviously took pride in the way he looked after himself.

“Sam, flirt a little more, Brandt hold off a few minutes” Ethan said quietly as he noted the woman in the red dress watched on disappointed.

“No Mrs Harris?” Riley asked as she pulled her hand away and wrapped it back around the cool glass and raised it to her lips once more.

“Ah, Mrs Harris, alas no. I think I enjoy the philanthropist life too much besides I much prefer the challenge of winning something thats quite possibly and almost certainly unattainable” he smiled as he tapped his empty whiskey glass to the waiter for a refill.

“Like married women?” Riley turned slightly so that she was facing him more, a soft curl to the corner of her lips threatening a smile.

“Sometimes...so tell me, where is Mister Brandt?” he gave her a sultry look as he watched the waiter refill his glass and picked it up, taking almost little to no time to empty the contents in one.

“Oh, back in our room, tapping away on his laptop, making lots and lots of money....I've no doubt he will come looking for me sooner rather than later” she replied as the woman in the red dress rose from her chair and made a beeline for Ethan’s spot.

“He should never of let you wander off alone, beautiful woman like you should never drink on your own, if you were my wife, I'd never allow you to get so bored that you wander trains and wind up talking to strange men” his finger had brushed her own on the counter top.

“You flatter me Mister Harris but Im hardly alone” she looked down at her hand then and back up to him, he did have very intense blue eyes, it was obvious why women could fall for the pitter patter.

“So, he is on a business trip and you....you are here for the sights hmm?” Harris smiled then showing his immaculate set of pearly whites.

“Something like that” Riley returned the smile.

Ethan had noted the woman in the red dress was now almost upon him and so whispered for Brandt to make his entrance, looking up from his paper he watched as she looked as if she was going to sit in the vacant chair opposite him but she simply smiled and moved past him, opting to sit in the chair across from his table, it was a relief for him. He had to admit that whilst all very subtle, Samantha Riley could seduce the rear legs off a donkey with just the right smile, the sound of her voice and certain look of the eye, he could feel that the next four days could be a total waste of an effort to the bag the invite, she was close to getting one there and then.

“So, what line of work does your husband do?” Harris had leant in closer as if her answer was to be a secret to be shared between them.

“Defence contractor” Ethan said under his breath, prompting Sam knowing she would elaborate just enough.

“He is contracted to the department of defence, he researches and highlights experimental weapons for them, its all very secretive and hush hush” Riley whispered back to Harris, leaning in closer.

“A man after my own heart...I'd be interested in speaking with your husband...haven't heard of a Brandt in my field though” Harris narrowed his eyes in thought trying to place the name.

“Experimental defence systems are very Indiana Jones secretive like I said, so I guess they tend not to broadcast the names of those in the know” Sam replied and it looked as if a light had been switched on in Harris’ brain, she knew that Benji was working hard and fast making everything they were saying a data pocket of truth somewhere on the internet where they knew Harris would be looking and checking later.

Benji had put in place identification profiles for each of them following Ethan’s advice, the pair of them no doubt had been working the last couple of weeks prior to her even getting the request to joining the team. Ethan had wanted to make sure each of them had a clone identification that was well planned and researched, they would all become key players in the weeks ahead, their persona's could not afford to fail them no matter how serious the situation became. 

Harris would of course retire at some point back to his cabin and start Googling the crap out of both her and Brandt just to see what he could find out about the pair of them, he would of course discover the fake backgrounds and history, their sham marriage looking about as real as Benji could make it including online photographs which he had doctored beforehand.

“Still, business should be tabled in your presence dear lady, after all, that kind of talk must bore you rigid...men talk” Harris grinned, Riley had a certain urge just to punch him in the face there and then and had even heard Ethan clear his throat as if he had read her mind.


	6. ISTANBUL

William Brandt pushed aside the door to the social bar carriage, he noted where Ethan was sat at the far and opposite end so he could see what Riley was doing. He had already passed Benji in the corridor, tapping the window of the cabin door lightly and nodding to the tech inside who gave him a quick waft of his hand before Brandt carried on. He noted the woman in the red dress, obviously trying too hard for male attention and knocking back the alcohol like it was free considering the time of the day he thought, he also noted their target doing his very best to impress Brandt's so called ‘wife’. 

Ethan had instructed him to get in the conversation, this man was important to them, they needed to get tickets to a fundraiser he was throwing in the Hotel Cipriani at the end of the week, they needed the invite to get in and check out the movers and shakers in the room that were associated with Harris but most importantly, they needed to discover the identity of one single person, that person had been pulling Harris’ strings, had Harris researching and building them something of significance, a destroyer of cities, a downfall of a country which was what the new DOD Secretary had called it.

Brandt knew that there was an element of seduction involved, he remembered the last time they had tried seduction but he had figured on targets and not members of his own team, he hadn’t banked on it being with Sam but it wasn't as if he wasn't game. He had heard the conversation that she had with Harris, heard all the innuendo between the pair of them and the flirting and part of him was a little jealous and he had no idea why. 

He remembered Jane looking ravishing in that dress when she had walked out of their hotel room suite that the team had shared, he remembered thinking that nobody would be able to not notice how beautiful she had looked that night but Jane's head wasn't entirely in the game. He didnt blame Jane for how everything turned out, she was slow on the uptake, the art of seduction had been difficult for her considering her recent loss and things had progressed a lot slower than had been anticipated but at the end of the day, they had gotten the job done.

Brandt looked at Sam and unconsciously his tongue snaked across his bottom lip in anticipation, he had been privy to the conversation as he listened to her flirt with Harris, without even seeing her he could hear it in her voice, she was ever so confident when speaking to the guy. He heard the little catches in her breath, they way she must of been playing Harris must of been a sight to behold and for a brief moment he wished he had been sat where Ethan was just so he could watch her at work.

The men talk remark had him smiling though, he knew if she was anything like him and what he had seen thus far seemed like they were two peas in a pod then he would of wanted to knock the bastard clear off of his chair too, the restraint shown must’ve been impeccable as he reached her chair and placed the palm of his hand on the small of her back, settling in on the base of her spine.

“Baby” he whispered into her ear, his nose pushing past the strands of her auburn hair. Leaning in close he was instantly hit with a musky floral scent that lightly wrinkled his nose, smiling, he left a peck on her cheek, Sam smiled as she placed her own arm around his waist and pulled him in closer, fingers slowly stroking at his hip.

“Will, meet Nathan Harris, he was just telling me about how you and him have the same business career paths” Sam said with a smile as Harris sat more upright and extended a hand towards Brandt, Harris had pictured a smaller man, weedier even, he had not expected to see the man stood before him.

Harris was disappointed quite clearly, he had hoped that her husband was some corporate nerdy looking man with glasses and not the kind of stature that he had now been presented with but he should of known better really. The woman sat in close proximity to him wouldnt be seen dead with anything less surely but Harris had been fooled once before many years before and so really shouldn't of expected anything less but still, he was still disappointed with the fact that Brandt looked like perfect husband material.

“Nathan Harris? Not the Nathan Harris of Harris Global Industries?” Brandt shook the mans hand with a firm grip before letting it go, all the while he remained up close to his partner, his right hand never straying from the small of her back.

“You have me at a disadvantage Mister Brandt” Nathan smiled and looked back to Sam noting those piercing grey eyes looking back at him with some form of amusement.

“Please, call me Will...” Brandt kept the relaxed mood intact.

“Will, you have a charming wife and may I be so bold as saying beautiful too...I wouldn’t be stuck in my cabin if she were travelling with me, less business more pleasure” Nathan leant then on the bar with his left arm, fingers playing with the rim of his whiskey glass but his eyes not wavering from Sam’s.

"What a cheesy fucker" Benji's voice echoed through everyone's earpiece and it took a lot of forced concentration on Sam's part not to laugh out there and then.

“My wife knows my attention will be solely focused on her come tonight” Brandt looked at Sam, his hand had slipped up from the small of her back and had travelled upwards over the cotton material pf her top finally coming to a stop on her neck where his fingers splayed out, his thumb aimlessly stroking the nape of her neck.

“Don't worry Mister Harris, its a good job we are on a train because my husband wont be able to walk for the next four days after Ive finished with him this evening” Sam looked at Brandt then and rubbed her fingers over his lips, she felt the catch in his breath, a small one only noticeable to her and her alone but there nonetheless.

“You are one lucky son of a bitch, pardon my French Mrs Brandt....look, Im having a little get together on Sunday in the Hotel Cipriani, Id love for you both to come as my guests....here, this will get you in, please I insist” he pulled from the silk lined inside of his jacket pocket an invitation on black matt card with gold lettering and slid it across the counter towards Riley who picked it up and looked at the fancy font work.

“Thats a nice offer but....” Brandt didn’t want to look too eager but Harris was already waving a hand in the air and sliding from off his stool.

“Please, I insist, just an evening of good food, champagne, women spending money and men doing business, if you are so inclined...” Harris straightened his jacket and moved past the pair of them.

“Okay, thank you, guess we shall see you there” Brandt turned to face him as Riley spun the stool round and leant back against the bar.

“Good, now if you’ll excuse me, have to take care of some....man business” he chuckled to himself and it was more than evident that he wasn't talking about weapons, more of what was going on in the trouser department. 

“What. A. Letch” Riley muttered as she watched Nathan Harris leave the carriage adjusting himself as he went.

“So, Im not gonna be able to walk for the next four days?” Brandt looked at her quizzically, an eyebrow arched.

“Aww, my poor baby....I promise I wont use the cuffs this time” she slipped from her stool and slid a hand across his well toned stomach and dropped her gaze so innocently before biting her lower lip before casually walking back out the carriage towards their shared cabin.

“Hahaha, cuffs, I remember what you did with cuffs in Istanbul” Benji’s voice cut through the chatter as the tech laughed to himself, Brandt looked to Ethan for some semblance of an answer but their leader suppressed a smile to himself, folded his paper and got up to leave following Riley out the door leaving Brandt to beat a hasty retreat as he noted the woman in the red dress trying to make eye contact with him in not a very flattering way.


	7. THROUGH THE LENS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again no Beta so all mistakes are mine. Thank you for reading!

They had spent the next three days holed up in their cabin, Ethan and Benji would come by periodically to go through what they learned, Benji would tell them that Harris had been spending time making internet searches trying to research Mr & Mrs Brandt and so far his created identities had held fast in every circle that Harris moved in online. 

IMF had kept up the ruse on their end and perpetuated the lie, he had been informed that Harris had also made several phone calls to contacts within the Department of Defence, all of which had panned out in their favour, they were perfectly set up as the identities for which they played and Harris seemed happy that he hadn’t uncovered anything of concern. 

His fundraiser had been an online frenzy of rumours, social websites were telling celebrity junkies that all kinds starlets from the entertainment industry as well as the sporting field would be present in what Ethan surmised was a cover up for a clandestine meeting of the big movers and shakers of Harris’ syndicate. It seemed that the Hotel Cipriani would have the eyes of the world on them and in some form it was the perfect stage for Harris to have whatever meeting he had arranged, if any but in on the other hand it was their worst scenario as so many bodies meant too many security factors to include in any strategic plans.

“You'll have to get a dress” Ethan had point blanked told her finally breaking the silence.

“Im not allowing you to pick it this time” she said as she closed the window blind a touch to stop the glare from the sun interfering with Benji’s laptop screen before sitting down next to their computer tech.

“Whats wrong with what I chose last time?” he raised an eyebrow at her tearing his eyes away from looking at Benji's face as his eyes darted from one to another.

“Hookers wear those kinds of dresses, I am not a hooker” she stared at him through her fringe and gave him the Riley stare, Ethan had been on the receiving end of that kind of stare just prior to Riley letting chaos loose around her.

“Did the job though didn’t it?” Ethan countered and smiled and all Brandt could do was look on and listen with intent hoping that somebody would eventually fill him in later.

“Give me the plastic” she held her hand out and waited for Ethan to fish in his trouser pocket before pulling out the company’s credit card where Riley took it from him and slipped it into her own jeans pocket with a satisfactory smile.

“I'll want that back later” Ethan looked at her with that look, she smiled and excused herself to go use the bathroom.

Ethan had later left their cabin leaving Benji alone with Brandt as the tech brought the former up to date with his new found alias, it seemed that Benji had worked quite hard on their so called marriage and backgrounds. Brandt had been somewhat surprised at the level of sophistication involved, wedding day pictures that only ever really existed in cyberspace as the actual event never took place but there on the web page for all to see was a happy occasion which looked like it was quite the affair. 

Also looked all very surreal, it was his face looking back on the screen and in his arms, Samantha Riley looking every inch the perfect bride, if it were all real then his mother would of been one the most truly happiest of individuals on the planet which was why she was never to see or hear anything of what was going on now or ever otherwise he would never ever be allowed to live it down. 

Benji had began to tell him about Brandt’s alias in the weapons division of the DOD but his words fell away as the pictures of his so called life slowly slipped past him on the laptop screen. Pictures doctored of him and Riley falling in love, getting married, moving into a new house and looking every inch the most loved up couple on the face of the earth and part of his psyche was extremely jealous of this non entity getting the perfect life. 

“Thats my favourite” Benji said breaking Brandt’s reverie as he looked over to Benji who was sat beside him.

“What?..Oh” Brandt looked back down at the screen and noted a photograph of Riley on her own on some beach at sunset, casting a look over her shoulder as a slight breeze whipped her hair but there was a soft smile playing on her lips, the photo being taken not too far away but Brandt had to admit it was a cracker of a photo even if it were fake.

The sand was almost pure white, the sky was starting to soften into a light pink turning red with hints of clear blue phasing through and the water was just crystal clear behind her, soft little waves lapping at her bare feet and the bottom of the blue sarong she wore was wet from the sea water. She had a warmer tan to her skin but grains of sand were stuck to her arms and her back and he could only see the strings from the bikini top tied just past where her hair stopped.

The wind had blown her hair off to one side as her head had turned to look back at the photographer, one of her hands was trying to brush at her hair behind her ear in an effort to see who it was that was calling out to her as the picture was taken. Her eyes were piercing and he noted how her mouth was slightly open but forming a small smile back and it looked to all the world like she was the only person on the face of the Earth and Brandt felt for just a split second that she was looking directly at him, that he was the one taking the photo.

“That's the real deal my friend, I even took the photo, no Photoshop or fake backgrounds” Benji looked genuinely delighted with the fact that he hadn't had to resort to technical fakery to get it.

“Thats really her?” Brandt looked up at him momentarily before finding himself inching closer to the screen to get a better look, a question he had already answered himself anyway but still.

“Oh yeah, a couple of years ago when I got a small field trip offered to me, three days in Bora Bora as a magazine photographer. It was supposed to be Ethan’s cover but he and Luther had been made so, I was in the area doing something for IMF and Ethan had me brought in to be this high profile snapper....so, that my friend, is a truly off the cuff moment...its a good photo even if I say so myself” Benji grinned lost on the fact that Brandt wasn't even considering how the photo was staged, just the woman in it.

“So, the blue sarong and the uh, bikini top...thats um all her?” Brandt casually waved a finger at the photo and Benji nodded.

“Yup, all Riley as God intended” Benji grinned and returned his attention back to his paperwork.

Brandt had found his mouth dry all of a sudden, he hadn't seen her in this light and for a moment he forgot that she was supposed to be this real ass kicker not this delicate looking thing staring back at the camera, a smile dancing on her lips with a hint of seductiveness buried deep within. Rubbing his hands on his trouser legs, he suddenly felt the urgent need for some fresh air and moved into the adjoining sitting room and pulled the small top window down the few inches it was allowed to so he could feel the breeze on the skin of his face.

"Get a grip man" he muttered to himself.


	8. UP ALL NIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No Beta, mistakes are my own, please feel free to leave comments!

Brandt allowed his mind to wander, to the bar a couple of days before where he had his hand in the curve of her back then up towards the nape of her neck where he had touched her skin for the first time. His fingers felt a slight tingling underneath and when he had leaned in to speak to her, her scent filled his nostrils and almost overcame him but it was when she spoke to him in that erotic English accent, heavily punctuated with that flirtiness that she had been using on Harris. 

Then she had touched him for the first time gliding her fingers across his lips and then onto the material of his waistcoat a little harder where she could feel the well toned abs that lay beneath. That, he had thought, was as sexy as fuck and it was all he could do to keep his knees locked in place.

He wondered if he was ever going to survive the week thinking the way he had been the last twenty minutes or so, shaking the thought from his mind he watched as the Italian countryside slipped past, he hadn't realised that they had now passed through a couple of countries already as his mind had been set on business rather than the route that they had been travelling. 

Nights had been relatively quiet and conversation had been kept to a minimum but there were times where he had been epically bored until the night before where Benji had conveniently told them that Harris had managed to move himself from one carriage to the cabin right next to theirs. At first things had been quiet, peaceful almost and every once in a while you could hear sounds of what seemed like a conversation whether it was between Harris and a steward who had come calling at his door or whether it was a telephone conversation. 

The words weren't clear enough to get a handle on what was being said but when Benji had set up a listening device, they had found that the conversations were nothing but the mundane. So, for the majority of the hours that dwindled away, some were spent talking about the mission or discussing Benji's sheer delight in all things technological in its making, Ethan's past to which Brandt had discovered that Riley wasn't as eager to discuss and their own likes and dislikes.

It wasn't so long after Harris made his home in the cabin next door that he remembered hearing their target obviously having some very noisy sex with quite possibly the woman they had seen in the red dress and both he and Sam had sought company of Ethan and Benji respectively when the disturbing sounds had started but were lost when both seemed to be asleep. 

With some resignation both Brandt and Riley had returned back to their cabin passing Harris’ along the way. They had sat in abject disgust at the loud noises that emanated from the cabin next to theirs, Riley commenting on the fact that it sounded like a pack of wild dogs going at it where he had suggested it sounded like a cat being strangled over and over again.

“This is ridiculous” she had finally said to him as they both sat on the sofa which faced the wall where quite obviously, Harris’ bed head was situated against.

“Its done on purpose, I mean, why even bother moving to that cabin unless on purpose” Brandt had sat with arms crossed watching as a small framed picture on their side of the wall begin to move in time with sound of Harris getting his groove on.

“I mean its....two in the fucking morning” she had grabbed his wrist to look at his watch, turning his hand over to see the chronograph record the time before letting it go again, he looked down at his watch noting the time before looking back at the wall.

“I don’t think he cares about what time it is” Brandt shrugged annoyed that of all nights, their last night on the train before their stop that he may of gotten some semblance of sleep.

“Well, this is just not gonna do” he watched as Riley got up and approached the wall figuring smacking it with her fist and shouting at them to knock it off wasn't going to have the desired effect.

“Its not gonna work” he said waving a hand at her preempting what he thought she was about to do.

He let out a sigh and expected some form of verbal abuse from the woman next door, what he didn’t expect was Riley leaning up against their side of the wall listening then starting thump out her own rhythm with her fist before starting to call out his name in a way that suggested that Harris wasn't the only one getting his mojo on that night. A smile lingered on his lips then as he watched her turn around, back against the wall and face him, next door had fallen a little more quiet but red dress was probably not going to have herself be outshone in the bed stakes.

“Oh baby....Im gonna ride you like a Ducati....ride you hard and fast....fast and furious....ohhh yessss” Riley pushed herself from off of the wall and began to pace the room calling out to nobody in particular but by now Brandt couldn't look at her, he really couldn't focus at that point and swallowed hard.

Smacking the wall a few times with the palm of her hand, she continued with her tirade before looking at Brandt, he cast his eyes up at her and she nodded for him to join in, quite possibly a passion killer seeing as he usually wasn't that vocal in the bedroom where sex was concerned but he realised that they were both only doing it for show so to speak and so pulling himself from out of the comfy enclosure of the sofa began banging against the wall and hollering himself.

“Im gonna do you so hard” he shouted at the wall, admittedly, it was more fun than he imagined.

“Call me your bitch” Riley shouted back at him and tried to suppress a laugh, the look on Brandt’s face was priceless.

“Oh baby girl, you're my bitch, show daddy what you can do” he shouted back.

They continued their back and forth name calling for a good ten minutes before realising that the other side had finished and had fallen silent. They fell quiet themselves as they dropped back into the sofa seemingly exhausted from their non coitus shouting display at one another, the picture frame on the wall had also stopped rattling against the aged wooden paneling that separated their cabins. Riley chanced a look at Brandt who was wearing quite a grin as if he knew something that she didnt and she smiled then, biting her lower lip, noticing he looked quite tired by now.

“Do you think they've fallen into a coma?” he whispered at her, catching her looking at him and the way her teeth caught the edge of her lower lip and for a brief moment he wondered what those lips would taste like before voices started up again.

“Show daddy what you're going to do” they heard Harris imitate Brandt’s earlier request and it was right there and then that Riley had to bury her face into a cushion as she started to laugh.

“Oh. My. God” Brandt rolled his eyes then.

Brandt remembered the night very well, he had laughed along with her, had pretended to screw her brains out in an effort to get their fellow passengers to shut up and in the end, the pair of them had fallen asleep on the couch to the sounds of Nathan Harris banging his lady in red to the tune of Riley and Brandt’s own call outs. When he had woken in the morning, he had felt a weight against his right shoulder and upon further inspection had found Sam’s head leant in and she was asleep in a position that their bodies would regret later on but for now he had managed to pull the blanket from off of the side of the sofa and place it around both him and her.


End file.
